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Biden goes for cherries on campaign-style Michigan stop
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- President Joe Biden stayed mum on policy during a Saturday trip to Michigan, focusing instead on cherries -- and cherry pie and cherry ice cream -- and voters who were mask-free as coronavirus restrictions have eased. It had all the hallmarks of a campaign stop that he couldn't make last year.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer greeted Biden when he arrived midday in Traverse City, which is hosting the National Cherry Festival, an event that attracted Presidents Herbert Hoover and Gerald Ford in the past.
They skipped the festival, however, in favor of a cherry farm in nearby Antrim County, where Biden pitched his immigration plans when chatting with two couples from Guatemala who were picking fruit. He then greeted a long line of enthusiastic supporters stretched out behind a rope.
His trip was billed as part of a broader campaign by the administration to drum up public support for his bipartisan infrastructure package and other polices geared toward families and education. But the president was out for direct contact with voters and refrained from delivering remarks about his policy proposals.
Whitmer told reporters she spoke to Biden about infrastructure, although not about any projects for Michigan specifically.
Eleven in custody following hours-long standoff on I-95
WAKEFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- An hourslong standoff with a group of heavily armed men that partially shut down Interstate 95 ended Saturday with 11 suspects in custody, Massachusetts state police said.
The standoff shut down a portion of I-95 for much of the morning, causing major traffic problems during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Authorities said the interstate is now reopened and the shelter-in-place orders for Wakefield and Reading were lifted.
The standoff began around 2 a.m. when police noticed two cars pulled over on I-95 with hazard lights on after they had apparently run out of fuel, authorities said at a Saturday press briefing.
At least some of the suspects were clad in military-style gear with long guns and pistols, Mass State Police Col. Christopher Mason said. He added that they were headed to Maine from Rhode Island for "training."
"You can imagine 11 armed individuals standing with long guns slung on an interstate highway at 2 in the morning certainly raises concerns and is not consistent with the firearms laws that we have in Massachusetts," Mason said.
Man rescued after at least 3 days in abandoned cistern
READING, Pa. (AP) -- A man was rescued after at least three days at the bottom of an abandoned stone cistern near the landmark pagoda overlooking the eastern Pennsylvania city of Reading, authorities said.
The man was healthy enough to climb out on his own on a city fire department rope ladder Friday morning, the Reading Eagle reported.
Fire department rescuers were dispatched shortly before 8:30 a.m. Friday after police found him underground through the 3-foot-wide opening near the concrete steps at the foot of the stairs leading to the century-old landmark atop Mount Penn.
Second Deputy Fire Chief Michael Glore said the man, whose name wasn't released, had been reported missing and police started searching the area after finding his vehicle parked at the pagoda. He was taken to Reading Hospital; Glore said he didn't have information on the extent of injuries.
Glore said the cistern at one time probably was visible on the slope below the Pagoda, but decades of vegetation had obscured it.